ROY CLARK passed away yesterday at the age of 85 due to complications from pneumonia. He was a skilled guitarist and a great singer, but he’s best known as the co-host with Buck Owens of “Hee Haw”. The show debuted in 1969, and Roy did close to 600 episodes through the late ’90s. He guest-starred on TV shows like “The Beverly Hillbillies”, “The Odd Couple”, and “The Muppet Show”. He filled in for Johnny Carson as guest host of “The Tonight Show”. He even did movies. His father played guitar, fiddle, and banjo and he followed in his dad’s footsteps. In the 1950s he toured with Grandpa Jones, and even played a couple of weeks with Hank Williams. Roy had 52 singles make the country charts, starting in 1963 with a song called “Tips of My Fingers”. Nine of his singles reached the Top 10. The song that he’s most identified with is “Yesterday When I Was Young”. He was a Grammy, CMA, and ACM winner and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009. He was the first American artist to perform in the Soviet Union. He opened a theater in Branson, Missouri in 1983, and it wasn’t long after that that theaters started popping up all over the town. He was longtime friends with Mickey Mantle, and performed at his funeral in 1995. Roy joined BRAD PAISLEY at the 50th Annual CMAs. They opened with “I’m a pickin’ and I’m a grinnin'”, then performed “I Got A Tiger By the Tail”. Brad posted several tributes to him on his Twitter page – “He shaped my path. My first guitar book was a Roy Clark guitar method. I practiced his style, then practiced making his facial expressions. He was a hero.” He also said, “When the Nashville floods wiped out most of my guitars, Roy heard about it and showed up at a show and gave me one of his. There’s a memorial being planned in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is where he spent the last years of his life.
HUGH GRANT and NICOLE KIDMAN are teaming up for an HBO drama called “The Undoing”.
VINCE GILL is being treated for kidney stones, which is why he missed the CMAs. He also postponed last night’s concert at Birmingham, Alabama, and word is that he won’t make any of his shows this weekend. His website is still showing the dates of his Christmas Tour with his wife AMY GRANT.
DAN + SHAY got shut out at the CMAs despite having four nominations – and the Internet isn’t happy.
BRETT ELDREDGE, MARTINA MCBRIDE, and KELLIE PICKLER will be performing for NBC’s “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” on November 28th – help with the annual tree lighting ceremony. Other performers include Diana Ross, Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Pentatonix, and John Legend.
BRETT YOUNG and his wife Taylor Mills have only been married a couple of weeks, but they already have their Thanksgiving plans worked out – they’re going to Oxford, Mississippi for the Egg Bowl . . . and celebrate Thanksgiving with both of their families.
“Jack Reacher” author Lee Child is working on a TV version, and he doesn’t want TOM CRUISE in the role, because he’s not big enough. Tom is 5-foot-7, and in the books, Jack Reacher is an intimidating 6-foot-5.
AMY SCHUMER has canceled some shows in Texas, because she’s been hospitalized with “acute morning sickness”. Amy posted a photo of herself in a hospital bed, and said, ” I’m fine. Baby’s fine, but . . . I have hyperemesis and it blows. Sending so much love to the doctors and nurses taking great care of me . . . And Texas, I’m really, really sorry and I’ll be out there as soon as I’m better.”
This week’s CD Releases include new music from Mariah Carey, Mumford and Sons, Michael Bublé, and Kip Moore.
Friday on Netflix: The series premiere of “The Kominsky Method”, which stars Michael Douglas as a Hollywood acting coach, and Alan Arkin as his best friend.
Saturday at 11:30 p.m. on NBC: Steve Carell hosts “Saturday Night Live”
Sunday at 8:00 p.m. on NBC: “Sunday Night Football”. The Chicago Bears host the Minnesota Vikings.
Sunday at 9:00 p.m. on A&E: Parts 1 & 2 of “The Clinton Affair”, a six-part documentary about the sex scandals and impeachment of Bill Clinton. It airs over three consecutive nights.
Pete Davidson is 25.
Lisa Bonet is 51.
Terry Labonte is 62.
